2014年剑桥商务英语(BEC)段落写作训练6

　　7) EDUEATION IN CHINA

　　In the wave of the economic reform, many scholars and educators have realized that China's education system, especially the higher education, has to gear itself to the market economy.

　　First of all, the present college education system cannot meet the needs following the development of the market economy. For example, the enrollment and job assignment which are carried out in the conventionally planned manners, should be reformed.

　　The competition in the next century will be based on national strength and on science and technology. Therefore, training high-calibre Professional is important. Someone suggested to build 20 to 30 quality universities in a bid to train high-level professionals. But this is far from enough. If the state wants to succeed, it has to develop applied science, high-tech, inter-disciplinary sciences and engineering technology. The universities should try to readjust their syllabus in order to meet the needs of economic and social development. The reform is a long-term job. The second problem is concerning the expenditure of universities and colleges. The expenditure comes mainly from the State and the marketing of research findings: But it is not enough to rely on allocations from the state and the income of the school. Now many schools have asked the students to pay a certain amount of fees. This is workable because China's college education is not compulsory and with the improvement of people's living standards, parents are willing to pay for education, colleges can set up scholarships and students loans for outstanding students from low- income families.

　　From a strategic point of view, the country should increase expenditure on education. If China want to strengthen her overall national strength, the best way is to start from education.

　　8)

　　A sane person should be at peace both with himself and with others. At work, for example, the successful businessman first creates ideas in his own mind, and then presents his plans to a committee where they can be improved upon by the wisdom of them. I believe that study also comprises the two sides of solitary work and group activity.

　　Wisdom always recognizes the worth of others. Firstly, there is so much to be learned from the expertise of a genuinely knowledgeable teacher. Secondly, other students can offer different perspectives of a topic. On a practical basis, friends can be useful for recommending the perfect textbook and so forth. In learning a foreign language, the student should always try to find friends who are native speakers of the target language. It is with sadness, contempt and cynical disbelief that I see a certain type of foreign student departing from a host country: by slavishly working in the library the student is awarded with high academic marks, but he or she has never spoken to a native speaker for any other reason than for petty power and financial gain. The insular academic student should remember the English saying that "no man is an island".

　　There is no substitute for self-study, for the solitary labor of reading and reflective thought. If a person is to master any academic subject, he must first read extensively. Until he does so, he can only contribute superficially to the group. Quiet reading encourages the student to think for himself. By thought and reflection the student begins to understand the world. Self-study (as the word implies) is also an inward 30urnev. When the student re-emerges from the forest of his own character, he gains one of the highest forms of learning-that of self-knowledge. Free from self-deceit, he is only then truly ready to create within the collective economy.

　　Overall, although I have argued for both methods, I prefer self-study to group interaction. Too much conversation can lapse into idleness; and weaker students sometimes attempt to take more than they contribute. Self-study is at the base of learning. Most important of all is the fact that a person has to learn about and control himself before he is prepared to present his opinions to others. Just as the businessman requires many years of experience to learn about commerce and industry so the student requires many years of reading.